Technical Field
The present application generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to semiconductor proximity and ranging sensor devices.
Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1A is a top plan view of a conventional proximity sensor 100. The proximity sensor 100 includes a cap 102 having a first aperture 104 and a second aperture 106. FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the proximity sensor 100 along the line IB-IB shown in FIG. 1A.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the cap 102 includes a first cap piece 102a and a second cap piece 102b. An adhesive material 108 secures the first cap piece 102a to the second cap piece 102b 
An adhesive material 110 secures the cap 102 to a substrate 112. The substrate 112 includes a plurality of contact pads 114. A plurality conductive traces 116 forms electrical connections between one or more of the contact pads 114 on an upper surface of the substrate 112 and one or more of the contact pads 114 on a lower surface of the substrate 112.
An adhesive material 118 secures a light emitting device 120 and a semiconductor die 122 to the substrate 112. The semiconductor die 122 includes a sensor area 124. Light emitted by the light emitting device 120 may exit the proximity sensor 100 via the first aperture 104, be reflected by an object in the vicinity of the proximity sensor 100, enter the proximity sensor 100 via the second aperture 106, and impact the sensor area 124. The proximity sensor 100 outputs a signal indicative of the intensity of light that is incident on the sensor area 124.
The proximity sensor 100 may be mounted to a printed circuit board (not shown) provided in an electronic device (not shown), for example, a cellular telephone. Many other components may be mounted to the same printed circuit board, which must fit within the device. One trend in consumer electronics is for devices to be made smaller while having increased capabilities. Accordingly, it may be desirable to mount more components on smaller printed circuit boards. Thus, it may be desirable to decrease the surface area required to mount each component to a printed circuit board. Accordingly, there is a need for proximity sensors that have smaller footprints than that of the proximity sensor 100.